Patrick Stevens' coverage of college sports in D.C./Baltimore/Virginia, just the same as ever

Debbie Yow

07/27/2010

One of the most amusing subtleties during the ACC Kickoff weekend was noting the placement of the N.C. State and Maryland tables during Sunday night's reception.

They were right next to each other.

That's as close to the society page as this blog will ever get, but it was a reminder that even though former Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow has gone to N.C. State, she still shapes much of how her old school's athletic department looks now.

Sure enough, Friedgen was asked the next day if he'd provided a scouting report on his old boss to N.C. State's Tom O'Brien.

"No comment," Friedgen said.

As his wife Gloria acknowledged while sitting across the table from him, that speaks volumes.

Of course, some of the tension between coach and athletic director can be explained away by a 2-10 record a season ago. Bosses paying relatively top dollar probably wanted better than a 35-38 mark over the last six seasons. And coaches, like anyone else, would prefer to be left to their own devices and spend as much money as they'd like rather than have their budgets cut. That didn't happen the last few years.

So the friction that existed of late is understandable.

Friedgen wouldn't go into specifics about what it was like working for Yow, but did offer praise (as he has before) for the overall job performance of his old boss.

"You'll have to see," Friedgen said. "I will say this and I've say it before. I feel very indebted to Debbie for hiring me and I think she did things at Maryland that are unprecedented. ... That's all I'm going to say about that."

And now the question can be retired --- until the week leading into the late November game between Maryland and N.C. State, of course.

Linda Clement, the school's vice president for student affairs, will chair the group to help find a replacement for Debbie Yow, who announced last week she will leave after 16 seasons to take the same job at N.C. State.

Other notable names on the committee include former men's basketball star Len Elmore and Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank.

06/28/2010

Loyal readers of the blog --- going back to v1.0 --- remember a story from December about assistant basketball coach salaries in the ACC (the link is provided as a sign of good faith, not as encouragement to to actually click on it and give a former employer a page view).

In any case, assistant coach contracts were far from the only thing requested in that blitz of public records requests sent to each of the eight public schools in the ACC.

The contracts of football and men's and women's basketball head coaches were requested, as well as those of all the athletic directors.

Eventually, all could prove useful in some way or another. And with Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow leaving for the same post at N.C. State, those AD deals are certainly of some interest now.

There are, admittedly, some holes in this. The contracts are also interpreted in a fairly literal manner. Some of the base salaries aren't necessarily reflective of pay for the last school year, but it's far better to take the numbers secured through the records request (or, in the case of Yow at Maryland, via the Diamondback's salary guide --- check out the top left of page 20) than through any sort of assumptions utilized during calculations.

Some contract clauses are considered add-ons that are virtually assured of being paid. These include supplemental pay (Yow will get $100,000 of that at N.C. State) or radio/TV money.

There's also the matter of some incidentals that are included in terms of dollars in some deals and not in others. Pretty much every AD gets an auto allowance; some get money, others get a courtesy car that wouldn't pop up in an analysis like this.

Nonetheless, this chart is a reasonable reflection, based on an examination of the contracts, of what the ACC's athletic directors are hauling in. Yow's contracts at both Maryland and N.C. State are included, as is the deal of former N.C. State athletic director Lee Fowler. Some explainers follow (EDIT: There was a little confusion on Radakovich's supplemental income. His total reflects 2009-10 now, not 2010-11):

AD

Base

Base + Add-Ons

Max Bonus

Signed/Through

Dan Radakovich, GT

$300,000

$587,800

---

2008/2013

Debbie Yow, NCSU

$350,000

$457,500

$398,000

2010/2015

Debbie Yow, Md.

$382,574

$448,374

$90,000

2007/2013

Terry Don Phillips, CU

$200,000

$418,000

---

2007/2013

Jim Weaver, VT

$362,472

$387,472

$95,412

2006/2012

Randy Spetman, FSU

$350,000

$350,000

$190,000

2008/2013

Dick Baddour, UNC

$295,000

$325,000

$147,500

2009/2012

Craig Littlepage, UVa

$320,000

$320,000

$50,000

2001/????

Lee Fowler, NCSU

$280,000

$280,000

---

2007/2013

* These numbers do not account for retirement packages and deferred compensation. Phillips received $160,000 in retirement plan money, while Weaver collected $25,000 for a university retirement plan. With that taken into account, Phillips obviously skyrockets in compensation.

* Yow's N.C. State max bonus is perhaps the most glaring example of a literal interpretation. In this case, it would take all 23 of the Wolfpack's varsity sports winning a national title to make that happen.

Here's a more realistic scenario: N.C. State finishes fourth in the ACC in football, both basketball teams reach the NCAA tournament (but don't win the ACC), a total of eight teams reach the NCAA tournament and the department meets its APR, graduation rate and Director's Cup benchmarks. That bonus would come out to $153,000. Clearly, her new deal has a generous bonus package, but it's not as outlandish as the chart would suggest.

* Yow's move pretty clearly isn't about money; the compensation will turn out to be similar. While the cost of living is more tolerable in the Triangle, the extra cash is far from the top of the list of explanations as to why she would switch jobs.

* Phillips' base salary information is from 2007, so it might have jumped some since then. The base numbers for Radakovich and Spetman come from 2008. The numbers for the rest were all accurate for the 2009-10 school year (except, obviously, Yow's new deal at N.C. State).

* Phillips' deal has a clause that is extremely relevant this week. From his 2007 contract amendment:

3. Article 3.3 is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Unless written notice of non-extension of this Employment Agreement is provided to Employee by the President not less than sixty (60) calendar days in advance, at the conclusion of the eighth year of this Employment Agreement (July 1, 2010), the term of this Employment Agreement shall be automatically extended for five additional years making the expiration date July 1, 2018. If the President decides not to extend this Employment Agreement as provided herein, the written communication from the President to the Employee will include the reason for that decision. ..."

* Baddour receives a month's salary for each of the following occurrences: Football plays in a bowl game; men's basketball reaches the NCAA tournament; women's basketball reaches the NCAA tournament; baseball reaches the NCAA tournament; department's four-year APR exceeds 970; and North Carolina finishes in the top 10. His bonuses add up pretty quickly, and vault him much closer to the top of the list than the chart implies.

* Littlepage's contract is easily the least revealing of the bunch. The contract provided by Virginia was a couple pages in length and basically was Littlepage's appointment letter from nine years ago. Completely random and irrelevant --- but still kind of curious --- fact: Littlepage put his signature on it on Sept. 11, 2001.

* Poor Lee Fowler. Not only was he guaranteed the least amount among the conference's eight public school ADs, but he received no obvious bonuses, either.

* The fifth addendum to Fowler's contract (from April 2007) provided some of the most interesting language in all of these deals.

WHEREAS NC STATE desires to employ ATHLETICS DIRECTOR for an additional four (4) years beyond his current contract term, which ends on September 30, 2009, and ATHLETICS DIRECTOR desires to be employed for an additional two (2) years.

Apparently, Fowler (like most people) wasn't about to argue with being given more than he wanted. Who could blame him --- especially now that he'll get paid to do nothing for the final two years of his deal?

* One last Fowler item --- he had a non-compete clause in case he either left on his own accord or was fired without cause. Not that it was remotely likely in the first place, but those N.C. State fans hoping for a challenge trade of athletic directors will probably be disappointed:

"... ATHLETICS DIRECTOR agrees that he will not obtain employment with any ACC school for the time period remaining under this Agreement. The parties agree that money damages would be inadequate to remedy a breach of this covenant; therefore, the UNIVERSITY shall have the right to obtain from any court such equitable, injunctive, or other relief as may be appropriate, including a decree enjoining ATHLETICS DIRECTOR from violating this paragraph."

RALEIGH, N.C. --- There is always unfinished business when someone leaves any job, no matter how long they've been around.

Debbie Yow was Maryland's athletic director for 16 years. And just as was the case when she arrived, her department remains in debt upon her departure.

Of course, that fiscally disastrous mountain was reduced 90 percent in that time. But some of it still exists.

"It would have been really nice to have been there and had
some ceremony with some piece of paper to burn that was symbolic of the
inherited $51 million debt, which is now down to $5.5 [million]," Yow said. "That pleasure is going
to belong to someone else. Hopefully Jeff."

"Jeff" would be Jeff Hathaway, the athletic director at Connecticut.

It's tempting to draw up a list of candidates to be Yow's successor, if only because that's a parlor game many people like to engage in. Realistically, however, an accurate list will be impossible to cobble together until Maryland names a new president to succeed the retiring C.D. Mote Jr.

Nonetheless, few big-name athletic administrators have as many ties to Maryland as Hathaway.

"He’s well respected in the world of intercollegiate
athletic.s he’s dealt with, in an equity conference in the big eats, been
successful in men’s and women’s basketball, renegotiated those contracts
multiple times," Yow said. "He’s a graduate. His wife is a graduate. Perhaps that
conference is not as stable as the ACC. And the ACC has a new TV agreement with
more money. I’m practicing [that pitch] because I will be calling him and saying ‘You need
to come home.’

"

Hathaway, a member of the NCAA men's basketball committee through 2012, was named Connecticut's athletic director in 2003. Yow said she is looking forward to contacting him to pitch the job she just left.

"I have never talked to him about that job because I never
envisioned I would be leaving," Yow said. "But I will call him as soon as I get a chance.

06/25/2010

RALEIGH, N.C. --- The overwhelming narrative crafted today at N.C. State --- where Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow is headed to become the athletic director --- was one of family.

Yow grew up in North Carolina. Her husband's ancestors came from the state. One sister coached at N.C. State, another was an All-American in basketball there.

There was a reference to seasons of a person's life, and at age 58 there is certainly some validity to that for Yow. Chances are excellent this is her last stop.

But Maryland played a role in this, too. Not intentionally, but rather because of the sudden instability at the presidential level on campus.

C.D. Mote Jr. is retiring in August. N.C. State chancellor Randy Woodson took over just a few months ago.

There was the unknown in College Park, and a high degree of certainty in Raleigh.

"When Brit [Kirwan] left, I went through the same process and it
worked out," Yow said. "I’ve always understood as the AD, wheoever the president is, I have
to line up with what they expect. That’s kind of my orientation. But it is nice
to kind of pick your chancellor and that’s what I was able to do. I like that.
It fits some of the things that matter to me more than they used to since Kay’s
passing and that’s being around for family functions."

No question, the discussion was and will continue to get back to family before long. But there was a rational element to this as well.

When you don't know who your boss is going to be or how well you'll get along with him or her and the opportunity is presented elsewhere to know what to expect, it's often smart to take it. And that's exactly what Yow did.

RALEIGH, N.C. --- There's a Baltimore/D.C.-area teleconference coming up at the top of the hour to chat with former Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow and discuss her departure to N.C. State.

Naturally, when a couple reporters who made the trek to the Triangle had a few other questions that weren't just N.C. State-specific --- and were more reflective than forward-looking.

One concerned her relationship with her revenue coaches --- notably basketball coach Gary Williams. Yow offered an interesting nugget on something that could develop in the near future.

"About 10 days ago I asked ... the [campus] committee on naming opportunities to consider --- I submitted a formal request to add his name to Comcast floor," Yow said. "I don't know. Is that something you do if you're having a spat? I don't know. It just doesn't seem to fit."

Yow also said she recently completed a nomination for Williams for the national basketball hall of fame.

In any case, it would come as no surprise if Williams' signature (or maybe a silhouette with a fist pump or some other symbol to reflect his 21 seasons and counting) landed on the Comcast Center court in the near future.

However it turns out, Yow will only make it to College Park once or twice a basketball season --- if that --- to see it.

RALEIGH, N.C. --- Debbie Yow has agreed to a five-year contract with N.C. State to become the school's athletic director, leaving Maryland after 16 seasons.

Yow, who will be introduced during a 2 p.m. press conference at Carter-Finley Stadium, will make $350,000 annually. She will also receive $100,000 in supplemental income.

She was guaranteed more than $350,000 at Maryland as part of a contract signed in January 2007. It was to expire in 2013.

Among the other perks:

* $50,000 for every year football wins an ACC title and $100,000 if N.C. State wins a football national title. Yow will receive $25,000 if football finishes in second, third or fourth in the ACC and $15,000 if the Wolfpack is fifth or sixth. The bonuses are not cumulative.

* Identical non-cumulative bonuses for men's and women's basketball: $25,000 for an ACC regular season title, $10,000 for an ACC tournament title, $20,000 for an NCAA tournament appearance in years one through three of the deal and $15,000 in years four and five; $25,000 for a Final Four appearance; and $50,000 for a national title.

* One of the following: $5,000 per team that wins an ACC regular season title, $2,500 for each team that reaches postseason NCAA competition; or $10,000 per team that wins an NCAA title.

* $1,000 for each team in "the upper 50 percent of the ACC Academic Progress Rate public university rankings."

* In the first two years of the contract, $25,000 when the student-athlete graduation rate meets or exceeds the undergraduate population. In the next three years, it is also necessary for the grad rate to be in the top 50 percent of the ACC's public schools to qualify for the bonus.

* $20,000 for a top-50 finish in the Directors Cup in the first three years; $15,000 for a top-50 finish or $25,000 for a top-25 finish in years four or five.

* Up to six months of temporary housing expenses --- up to $12,000 total.